Palisades nuclear restart still has no date as Holtec answers an NRC warning about its safety culture

Wright made the prediction during an Oct. 29 tour of the plant in Covert Township on Lake Michigan, saying the reactor would be running before year-end, ENR and Michigan Public reported. Holtec did not answer ENR's question about the date. Its line is that Palisades will restart when all required work is done and Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements are met. A company spokesman told Michigan Public that once the NRC clears the restart, the reactor will climb from low to full power over several weeks.

The latest delay started inside the reactor vessel. Fuel loading was disrupted Aug. 30 when a fuel assembly tilted, ENR reported; Michigan Public put the tilt at 30 degrees. Holtec told regulators its usual fuel-handling machine could not pull the assembly, so it built a dedicated canister to carry it to the spent fuel pool. The NRC approved the method in mid-October and Holtec reported the job done on Oct. 21. As of Oct. 22, the company and the NRC were still working out why the assembly tipped.

In an Oct. 13 letter, the NRC found that staff in two Palisades departments, supply chain and quality assurance, were reluctant to raise safety concerns, mostly for fear of retaliation, including being fired. The agency found no violations and said the finding should not affect the restart. It told Holtec to share the results with employees, commission an independent evaluation and send a corrective action plan in 30 days. David Lochbaum, a former Union of Concerned Scientists safety director who opposes the restart, told ENR such letters are "very rare."

Palisades shut down in 2022. Holtec first aimed to generate power around October 2025, and the schedule has slipped about a year, Michigan Public reported. The project has $1.5 billion in federal funding, and Holtec has a contract to start selling power by March 1, 2027.